Jane McRobbie
Consultant

Background
  • Extensive experience of working in the voluntary sector designing and delivering engagement programmes, training and employment initiatives for excluded groups
  • Previously worked for The Big Issue in the North as a training and development manager - involved with training for vendors and individuals in a variety of programmes. Developing and delivering these services necessitated close working with Government Agencies and Local Authorities
  • Also worked as a lecturer at North Trafford College
  • Jane has translated this passion for social justice into her work at FSquared where she has pioneered a number of innovative approaches to employment and training, community consultation and engagement and local procurement within large scale capital programmes.

Education
BA in Sociology
PGC in Teaching

Projects
  • Elevate – worked with Elevate (a Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder) to define the model for The Construction Training Academy, a radical approach to delivering employment and training opportunities to local people via an Apprentice programme. She also undertook a Skills Impact Assessment – working with Elevate and Local Procurers to assess the regions need for Construction workers, and how this could be met by targeted, tailored training programmes in colleges.
  • Northern Batch Hospital – Jane was the senior regeneration consultant leading on this project for the bidder, and continued to work on this project following the announcement of preferred bidder. Local employment and business benefit was a key driver for the procurer and Jane developed a Local Benefit Questionnaire to assess the economic impact of supply chain initiatives. Jane developed a process by which local suppliers could be targeted and encouraged into the supply chain via initiatives such as Meet the Buyer events.
  • Learning Hub- through Jane’s work on Manchester Schools Framework and Northern Batch Hospitals for Balfour Beatty she developed a transferable on-site learning hub model which has now been adopted for both projects and more widely.
  • Maine Road – Jane led on the community consultation and engagement for this housing development, including consultation events with the local community and also submission of supporting statements for planning. Employment and training for local people is a key concern for local people. Jane has led on the development of a Training and Employment Model for the development, including linking together the developer, key agencies, the City Council and a local college to commit to a new on-site training facility.

Other
Jane is our resident technophobe. Our storeroom is littered with the discarded corpses of IT-equipment that Jane didn't get along with.